The present invention relates generally to refrigerated display cases and more particularly to a sliding door assembly for a refrigerated display case.
Refrigerated display cases (e.g., a refrigerators, freezers, refrigerated merchandisers, etc.) are used in a wide variety of commercial, institutional, and residential applications for storing and/or displaying refrigerated or frozen items. For example, self-service type refrigerated display cases or merchandisers are often used in grocery stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, florist shops, and other commercial settings to store and display temperature-sensitive consumer goods (e.g., food products and the like).
Many refrigerated display cases have a display case door (e.g., a door with an insulated glass panel) through which items within the refrigerated display case can be viewed. In some refrigerated display cases, the door is hingedly attached to a frame and swings open relative to the frame to facilitate consumer access to the refrigerated or frozen items. Other refrigerated display cases use sliding doors that move linearly relative to the frame.
Previous sliding door type refrigerated display cases suffer from a number of disadvantages. For example, the sliding doors are often designed to slide along a track at the bottom of the door frame. The bottom track can collect debris and must be regularly cleaned to ensure proper operation of the sliding doors. Sliding doors can be difficult to open and close due to the weight of the doors being supported by the bottom track, resulting in a friction force which must be overcome when sliding the doors along the bottom track. Additionally, sliding doors often fail to return to the closed position when not in use. It would be desirable to provide a sliding door assembly for a refrigerated display case that overcomes these and other disadvantages.